JOHNROSE celebrates on “The Prophet’s Dance” timeless fantastic Rock music with depth
The German musician and multi-instrumentalist Johannes Rösgen, aka JOHNROSE, returns two years after his last Melodic Rock single “Toward The Sun”, with his extraordinary new album “The Prophet’s Dance”. On the full-length, which will be released on 12/08/2023 via Dr. Music Records, the Rhineland-Palatinate artist lets the mysticism of Rhine Romanticism shine in new splendor. Sophisticated, melodic and timelessly beautiful Rock music full of imagination and depth, wrapped in a warm and powerful sound, forms the musical cosmos of JOHNROSE. Thereby, he falls back on his longtime experience in Prog and Rock cover bands and inspires besides the high-class instrumentation with subtle lyrics. The Rock Poet from the Middle Rhine wanders unerringly between the musical spheres of melodic Prog, AOR and elegant Art Pop so that each of the twelve songs sounds unmistakably like JOHNROSE. Mainly self-played, recorded and mixed at Confluentes Studio, the album was subsequently mastered by Stefan Noltemeyer (i.a. Meat Loaf, Santana, Earth Wind & Fire) in Berlin. Visually, the Digipak CD is also a real eye-catcher thanks to the filigree artwork by Thomas Ewerhard (i.a. Avantasia, Neal Morse, Volbeat), perfectly visualizing the album’s spirit. “The Prophet’s Dance” is for music lovers who appreciate Rock with charisma and personality, as played by Pink Floyd, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Toto or even Kate Bush.
Johannes Rösgen began his musical career in the mid-1970s in the school band Flashbolt and earned his first spurs as the guitarist of the Progressive Rock group Athis. Since 1982 he has also been the guitarist and singer of Copyright, which, in addition to countless gigs, also released an album in 1999. He also fronted Giant For A Day for three years and opened for legends like Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and Alan Parsons. Since 2015 he has been performing mainly as JOHNROSE and released the double CD “Ride The Raven” based on the tapes from his time at Athis in the early 80s and subsequently the albums “Behind The Gates”, “The Key” and most recently “Wings”, which were received positively by the music press. The new album “The Prophet’s Dance” presents a musically more mature and purposeful JOHNROSE and becomes more visually tangible through stylish music videos. The opener “Calling For You”, begins with a nightmare about how someone desperately calls for his president but receives no answer. The single release deals with the longing for a leader who takes responsibility and ends in a quiet and intimate atmosphere characterized by trust and mutual respect. The following track “Manner Of Travelling”, is also the second single and is about the fact that the world is spinning faster and faster and that we will eventually be thrown out of orbit. Although there have never been so many innovations in the history of humanity that make life easier, many have the feeling of being more and more driven. This is all about the skill of slowing down and the influence of thoughts and inner attitudes on emotional life and, ultimately, one’s happiness. “The Curtains Are Falling”, on the other hand, is a tribute to the surrealism of Japanese author Haruki Murakami, where fantasy and reality intermingle. The first single “Around The Lake”, in which JOHNROSE shares his experience of the sudden loss of his father when he was only 18 years old, is extraordinarily personal and nostalgic. The touching memory of the shared moments inspired the musician to write this song about farewell, gratitude and hope. The intriguing, extraordinary title track “The Prophet’s Dance”, is the final single and metaphorically takes the in-depth perspective of a whale as a prophet. It reveals a hidden underwater world where whales spend more time playing, dancing and singing than foraging for food, and invites us to pause and turn back.
JOHNROSE’s new album “The Prophet’s Dance” is emotionally poignant, and the messages and symbolism of the lyrics are profoundly touching, leaving the listener entirely lost in the music. At the same time, everything is wonderfully woven into a warm, thoughtful soundscape with musical elements from the last four decades of sophisticated Rock music.
